weather

A strong tropical wave over the southeast Bahamas is on track to become a tropical depression by Friday, and potentially Tropical Storm Humberto over the weekend.

The National Hurricane Center has increased the chances of tropical cyclone development to 70% over the next two days and 80% over the next five days. The tropical wave could develop anywhere from the eastern Gulf of Mexico to the western Atlantic based on its 2 pm tropical outlook.

Hurricane Dorian continues to weaken as it heads northwest through the warm Atlantic waters. As of 5 p.m., the hurricane warning from the Sebastian inlet to the Jupiter inlet has been downgraded to a tropical storm warning, but all tropical watches/warnings south of the Jupiter inlet have been discontinued.

The Category 5 hurricane barreled through the town of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island shortly after landfall in Elbow Cay. The prospect of catastrophic destruction left Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis in tears.

Evacuation orders have been issued for swaths of Palm Beach County. Shelters are now opening up. Here is a lightly edited update of the county guidelines regarding who should evacuate and where they should go:

Mandatory evacuations are being ordered for residential structures in Zone A and Zone B in Palm Beach County, effective at 1 P.M. Sunday, September 1, 2019. The Palm Beach County Emergency Information Center number is 561-712-6400.

Hurricane Dorian bore down on the northwestern Bahamas as a fierce Category 4 storm Saturday, as new projections curved upward enough to potentially spare Florida a direct hit while still threatening it with powerful winds and storm surge.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Dorian is now an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm, according to a special statement at 8:30 pm Friday. Data from hurricane hunter aircraft indicate the major hurricane has winds of 130 mph.

Dorian become a Major Hurricane earlier Friday afternoon, and continued to steadily intensify Friday evening.

On Wednesday Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency as Hurricane Dorian moves out of the Caribbean toward Florida. Thursday in Miami DeSantis insisted the storm could hit the state anywhere along its east coast - and urged Floridians to plan accordingly.

As Hurricane Dorian neared a likely Florida landfall, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon for 26 counties in the storm’s path, spanning the east coast from Duval to Monroe counties. The state Emergency Operations Center is also activating to Level 2, he announced, bringing in more emergency management staff to coordinate a response to the storm.